Cutting Holes for Windows!
Yes, we cut holes in a perfectly good van..
To have windows, you must have holes…
Let’s get right to it…cutting big holes in the side of the van was the most nerve-racking things we did. It seemed so permanent. In reality it was not that hard to do the physical cutting, but the planning and preparation had us on edge.
We needed a vent in the ceiling and wanted to add windows to each side of the van, as well as one in the back over the head of the bed…or what would become the bed. All went almost as planned….. One snafu had us sweating a bit. What was it? Read on….
Cutting the cross beams
The walls of the van had space for aftermarket windows and those are very well made for the space. But we had vertical support beams in the van and after some research I found out how to easily take them out. I used my oscillating saw to cut the bottom and top welds and then gently pull. It came right off. This was a nice intro to cutting the van. It was a permanent modification, but did not seem too bad. Now on to cutting out the hole for the window.
Measure twice (strike that…forty times…maybe more) and cut once.
I researched this A LOT. What tools to use, where to cut, etc. You name it I read about it. I thought about sheet metal cutters, grinders, cut off wheels, one person recommended plasma cutter (don’t do that), and a jigsaw. In the end I decided on the jigsaw. If I would have had electric or pneumatic metal cutters, I would have tried that, but I did not. The jigsaw was used by many and I was used to woodworking so I chose the tool I knew how to use the most.
CR Laurence windows
I purchased CR Laurence windows specific for the make/model fo the van. The instructions said to cut around the double metal on the van and the windows will fit right in. I had read some did this and the opening was too big. I decided to make a template out of cardboard and I am glad I did! It would have been too large.
I taped up the general area outside of the van and then put the template on the inside and drilled a reference hole through the template and van. This is the same hole that will be used to start the jigsaw blade. I then took the template to the outside of the van and used the reference hole to place the template on the outside and tape it into place.
I then drew the outline of the hole I had to cut. I removed the template and ensured I had enough tape around the outside of the drawn out area to allow the jigsaw base to not come in contact with the paint on the van. I wanted a big hole, but no scratches. Then I measured again. When satisfied, I measured one more time.
I used several reference points on the outside and inside to make sure I was in the right place and when the widow was installed it would not be tilted and instead line up with the body lines of the van. Now I was ready to cut, so I measured one last time.
The last thing I did before cutting was to tape a plastic drop cloth inside the van to catch the metal shavings. It did help a lot and I had minimal cleaning to do. The cutting was very fast. It probably took no more than 10 minutes to do the actual cutting. Once done I went into the van to see if everything looked like it should. It worked! It was beautiful. Relief…
The fit
I then dry fit the window and used my Dremel with a metal cutting disc on it to take away any high spots. The window fit in like a glove. I was happy. The next step was to file down the rough edges and paint them to prevent rust. I just used a metal paint/primer in one. After it dried for 15 minutes or so, it was time to put in the window for real.
The window has a seal already installed on it so you slide it in from the outside and then there is a piece that goes on the inside that fastens to the main window with about 15-20 screws. When tightened is pulls the window in and flattens the seal creating a water tight window. That part took very little time as well. We water tested it with a garden hose set on the jet setting. All was good. It was a good end to a nervous day. One down, another two to go.
I did the same thing for the second one. Rinse and repeat. The second one went in just as smoothly. It transformed the look of the van. Looked like factory windows. Everyone is surprised that they are not original.
The last window proved to be the most difficult. It is the small window that goes over the head of the bed. It was a smaller window, but the installation was the same. The reason it was more difficult is my template was not as good as for the other two and it was slightly too big. I was sweating…a lot. What next?
I saw I could order a custom size, which I thought I might need to do and cut the opening a bit larger and get a slightly larger window. But I found I was able to move the window up/down/left/right to get it to fit with no light coming through. We tightened it down and then I said let’s remove it so I can add some waterproofing strip, Butyl seal tape, from the vent installation. I also added caulk. I did not want a leak later.
We installed it again, moved it to where it needed to be and then tightened everything down. I dreaded that water test, but it was all good. Put the faucet right on the window and no leaks. I was happy…still nervous until the next big rain storm, but happy. The next storm came and all was good. In fact it has shown no issues, so I am happy and no longer worried.
Below are links to products we used. I feel like we have kept Amazon in business. Almost all our materials came from there. I am happy to share the fruits of our research to save you some time. And we did a lot of research. As a disclaimer, I am an Amazon Associate. This means that I may earn a small commission for purchases made through these links. There is no extra cost for you.